view of government, funded by these television companies and more, including charter communications. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers, and we are just getting started, building 150,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> partner communications supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> president biden traveled to madison, wisconsin, to announce a new student debt relief plan that aims to 20,000 oliver centrist -- $20,000 of interest for roughly 20 million borrowers. the president's remarks run roughly 15 minutes.

♪ pres. biden: hello, wisconsin. [applause] hello, hello, hello. please, have a seat, if you have one. gov, thank you for the nice introduction. thank you, ashley, for introducing me and sharing your story. i, like an awful lot of people in this audience, was the first in my family to go to college and watched my dad struggled to help me get there and get all the kids there, and it was not easy. but, you know, i ask the rhetorical question, how can we be the leading country in the world without the best education system in the world, and access to it?

you and sam are from rural wisconsin, the first in your family to go to college, only to see your dreams crushed by student debt. but now, thanks to what we are doing, that student debt is no longer holding you back. [cheers and applause] with this new freedom, you started your business. it helps women and minority owned businesses here in wisconsin. this is what it is all about. [applause] pres. biden: i think we all in this room share one goal, give everybody a fair shot, just a shot, freedom to chase your dreams. you've got some of the greatest people in wisconsin. i mean that sincerely. your governor is one of the best in the united states. [cheers and applause] you really are.

and the progress we have made is because of tony. [cheers and applause] and the bad news for tony is we become -- we have become friends. thanks for the passport. i appreciate it. you are doing a hell of a job. madison mayor, where is she? stand up. i get instructions from my wife, who is a schoolteacher. she said make sure you say hello to her. thank you. and the state and local tribal leaders here today, thanks for making yourselves available. where are you? stand up. thank you. [cheers and applause] while she could not be here, i am always grateful for one of the best senators in the united states senate, tammy baldwin.

she really is. she is a great partner in education, infrastructure, bringing americans so much more. she has done so much. when kamala and i -- because while her degree is still taken -- still a tickets to the middle class, that ticket is becoming too expensive. it is a lot different from one college tuition was more important role -- more affordable. today, too many americans, especially young people, are saddled with unsustainable debt in exchange for college degrees. the ability for working and middle-class folks to repay their student loans has become so burdensome that a lot cannot repay it for even decades after being in school. i mean that sincerely. any of you know that sitting in front of me. even when they work hard to pay their student loans, the debt

increases. too many people feel the strain and stress, wondering if they are going to get married, have their first child, start their family, because even if they get by, they still have this crushing debt. that is not just a drag on them. it is a drag on our local economies. it really is. it is a drag on the economies. when you cannot afford to buy a home, start that small business, chase that career that you have been dreaming about for a long time. that is why early in my term i announced a major plan to provide more than 40 million working and middle-class americans student debt relate. tens of millions. [cheers and applause] tens of millions of people with debt, and it's literally about to get canceled. but some republicans and special interests suit us and the supreme court blocked us. but that did not stop us.

we continue to find alternatives to pass reduced student debt. [cheers and applause] altogether, my administration has taken the missing of the can -- the most significant action to reduce student debt in this country. we started by fixing two existing programs to get people more student debt relief than they are entitled to. first we fix the public service loan forgiveness program, which is designed for those in public service. if they have made payments for their first 10 years, after 10 years in public service, they would have their loan forgiven. when i took office, 7000 had their debt forgiven. the program was not working very well.

i called into the department of education and other departments and said we've got to fix this and fix it now. now nearly 900,000 have had their debt reduced. [cheers and applause] including 16,400 right here in wisconsin. [cheers and applause] second, we turn what is called an income driven repayment program, which i renamed the safe program, the most affordable repayment plan ever. before i took office, student borrowers had to pay 10% of discretionary income on a monthly basis, 10% discretionary income. that is income after you pay for necessities like housing and food. a lot of people did not have the means to pay 10%, so i was able to have the department cut that to 5% for undergraduate loans. [cheers and applause] now that means no undergraduate

loans, whether community college or four-year college, have to pay 5% of discretionary income to pay those loans starting in july for this year. for millions who make less than $32,000 a year now after they are out, their monthly student payments will be dropped to zero as long as they are -- [cheers and applause] really. and already close to 8 million americans have enrolled in the save plan, including 135,000 here in wisconsin. [cheers and applause] because of our reforms, 25 thousand people nationwide have been receiving letters from me about their debt they had for all those years. it is finally going to be forgiven. but i am not stopping here. today i am proud to announce five major actions to continue to relieve student debt for more than 30 million americans since i started my administration.

first, my administration will propose a new rule, cancel up to $20,000 in runaway interest for any borrower that owes more now than when they started paying the loans. [cheers and applause] that is a big difference. and for low and middle-class families enrolled in my save row graham -- save program, we will cancel all of your interest. [cheers and applause] second, we plan to cancel student debt for borrowers that still owes student loans, even though they started repaying them more than two decades ago. third, we plan to cancel debt for about 2 million borrowers who would be eligible for debt forgiveness through the save program, public service loan forgiveness or other debt canceling programs, but are not enrolled in these programs. some of you are only finding out as a teacher, firefighter, or

cop you qualify, but you did not know it. but now you are eligible no matter how long you have been out of the program. fourth, you plan to cancel debt for borrowers with the department of education cash which the department of education determines were cheated by universities that left students with a loan with little benefit. [cheers and applause] one of those colleges was closed. i won't mention them. [laughter] finally, the department of education will propose a new rule to cancel student debt for americans facing financial hardships, from childcare to health care, to prevent them from paying back their loans. the department of education will propose and then implement these plans starting this fall. we plan to deliver $20,000 in interest relief to over $20 million and full forgiveness for millions more. [cheers and applause]

i can tell by the looks on some of your faces that this relief is not news to you all. because this relief can be life-changing. life-changing. just as you heard from ashley. follow, i will never stop to deliver student debt relief for hard-working americans, and it is only in the interest of america we do it. should the good of our economy, which is growing stronger and stronger, and it is, by freeing millions of americans from this crushing student debt, it means they can finally get on with their lives instead of your life being put on hold. that is why every american making a student loan payment should go to studentaid.gov to learn more about these plans and see if they are a fit for you. look, that's not all. people say to me it is great you are helping people in college, how about all those hard-working people who grew up and had no opportunities to go to college? i get it. it a neighborhood i came from.

that is part white part of my economic agenda is investing in all of america -- that is why part of my economic agenda is investing in all of america. think of how many of these shop programs at high schools have been dropped, people not knowing whether they want to work with their hands, people not able to get started. to provide pathways to good middle-class jobs without college, my labor department is investing 200 million dollars in grants for registered apprenticeship programs around the country. [cheers and applause] by the way, parenthetically, all the money in the chips program i put together is going to invest over $50 billion in new programs , new ability to make these chips here in america. you know what the average salary is? $110,000 a year.

you don't need a college degree. [cheers and applause] programs like the one taught right here in madison technical college that lead to good paying jobs in high-growth fields and clean energy and technology. these apprenticeship programs have four or five years to qualify before you get a license. i love people saying, why are you so prounion, prolabor? [cheers and applause] a lot of people think you can walk up and say i want to be an electrician, and you are an electrician. five years of apprenticeship. it's like going to college. five years. i also want to make -- and i've been pushing this, and if i am reelected, i am going to push it hard -- i want to make community college tuition free. [cheers and applause] you won't need loans at all. it will cut in half the cost of going to college.

if we do this, the economic gains will far outweigh the cost. that is not hyperbole. that is the truth. this is in addition to the historic investments to modernize our infrastructure, roads, bridges, high-speed internet, clean water for every american. we need more qualified people doing this work, to bring back manufacturing back to america, to build new factories in your communities. i am investing in the american agenda. we expect to create millions of jobs over the next decade. we have already created over 15 million new jobs. [applause] had a significant number of these did not require a college degree, including across wisconsin. my dad used to say, and this is not hyperbole, my dad was a hard-working guy, a very well read man. got into college.

he's from, everybody says it's baltimore, it's baldimur. he went into college at johns hopkins. just prior to the war, he was working at a shipyard and could not go. he had this phrase, joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck, it's about your dignity. it's about respect. it's about having a place in the community where you feel like you belong. it is about being able to look your kid in the eye and say honey, it's going to be ok. that is what we are doing. we are giving people a chance to make it. that is why i have never been more optimistic about our future. we have to remember who we are. we are the united states of america, and there is nothing about our -- nothing beyond our capacity. nothing, nothing, nothing. they god bless you all, and may

god protect our troops. iq. --thank you, thank you, thank you. [cheers and applause] ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> defense secretary lloyd austin generated charles brown junior and michael mccord to testify on the defense department's 2025 budget request. watch the senate armed services committee hearing.

c-span has been delivering unfiltered congressional coverage for 45 years. here are highlights from key moments. >> although this city was the nation's capital for only a short time, from those early days, the eyes of the world have continued to be on new york. one year ago, this great center of history, enterprise, and creativity suffered the greatest of cruelties and showed itself to be a place of valor and generosity and grace. here, where so many innocent lives were suddenly taken, the world saw acts of kindness and heroism that will be remembered forever. >> c-span. powered by cable. >> next, an event marking nato's 75th anniversary. the u.s. ambassador to nato, julianne smith, spoke about the importance of the